Things I Don't Get Paid Enough For
by Prime627
Summary: The Quintessons won the war, and so they hired Prowl as their hunter to get what they desired most: femmes, planets of femmes...but when they decide to cut the deal with Prowl, he is left on a planet that could quite possibly kill him because he worked for the enemy. The only hope he has left are the ones he hurt. He definitely didn't get paid enough.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay. This was** _ **supposed**_ **to be a Jupiter Ascending fic, but then I realized that I don't fully understand the movie (How can someone be half-abino?), so I'm taking the basic plot and going from there. I tried to take a step back from using Optimus as a main character all the time (*shrug*), so here's Prowl, with a little bit of Optimus stepping in at a later chapter.**

I had a thought, walking to the three Quintessons' hall, that I do not get paid enough for what I do.

After the war ended badly for us Autobots, we had to join the Quintesson's cause. Optimus, of course, rebelled, and took Bumblebee and his daughter from Aleta with him. I stayed with Jazz, my mate. I couldn't take him away, and I couldn't leave him.

See, what the Quintessons need are planets. Planets full of females they can breed with, and Cybertron is dead, Aquatron is theirs already, but the population is strictly male (the oldest Quintesson brother thinks that if they believe they are in danger, some of the males will switch genders like frogs), and Velocitron is being used as the current breeding grounds.

To ensure their cooperation, they have me: the bounty hunter. I go out and find planets with females that the Quintessons can breed with. And right now, I had news of Earth that I would bring up after they gave me an assignment.

The oldest spoke as soon as I opened the door.

"You will go to Earth, find the Seeker Queen, and bring her here."

They must be desperate, I thought. They don't usually send me out to sniff for a Seeker, which produces three sparklings each time they carry. It occurs to me that the Quintesson brothers are older than I thought.

"Very well," I said, which is the only two words I am really allowed to speak after they give an assignment. Anything more would be seen as disrespectful. I left quickly and found my mount.

She hung from the ceiling, her wings pinned to the ceiling, her collar pulling her neck back as it, too, was chained to the ceiling. Her paws were pressed to her chest. Her hind legs were pressing against the floor a mech pounded his hips into her aft. She made a grimacing expression as I drew near, but I dared not interupt. I liked my servos, and I knew Deathbrigher could tear them off with a flick of his helm. I did not want that.

Roselight watched me with her good optic, growling slowly while Deathbringer overloaded heavily, his hips twitching as he ground a little deeper. Then he pulled out and walked back to his own room, a Quintession waving a bright light for him to come. It vaguely reminded me of a movie about dinosaurs, but the feeling faded when I saw Roselight was huffing, steam rising from her nostrils. I bared my denta.

Before she could breathe a spark of her deadly fire, I pushed two digits up against her throat and silenced her roar, smacking a servo hard onto her snout and pinning it closed. She shook me off and struggled. I cut her free and climbed onto her shoulders. She walked slowly out of the breeding room, and when I turned, I watched a younger Predacon femme put herself up into the same position Roselight had been in. She made a quiet sound as the mech returned and mounted her just as he had mounted my mount, and I spurred her into the hall.

She found her way into space. Predacons are the only ones, save Seekers and Insecticons, that can navigate deep space without guidance, assistance, or thrusters. As she flapped her wings and moved her hind legs, as if swimming, I leaned back and thought about my assignment.

Seekers have one Queen and one King. The Queen, the submissive of the two, can be either mech or femme, but currently, the Queen was femme, but she was weak. Dying. She had a newborn Princess, and I thought about the chances of the Queen carrying versus the Princess, who would have surely aged considerably before I could touch down to Earth. I had a few friends I could trust with my task, Optimus being one of them, but first I would have to find him, and I did not want to seek him out immediately.

He and I no longer got along. He despised the Quintesson brothers. I eagerly await their call. We are different.

Roselight and I have a mount-and-rider bond. She chose me by desiring my death, and I chose her by refusing her desire. She tries every day, and every day we continue to be mount and rider. Rider and mount. At that mental correction, I produced a whip and struck it across her hindquarters. She roared, and though I could hear it, I felt it. I struck her hindquarters again, harder, and she quickened her stride. I am always impressed with her, but I do not let her know that. She becomes unruly with pride.

We need time to rest, though Vector's fingers of time do not reach us. Much. I know that Roselight can go for days without rest, and I can go for a few more days without Energon, but Roselight was foaming at the mouth when I went to check on her. A string of it hit my face and I wiped it off. She smirked. I struck her hindquarters again.

A small moon came into view, playing sentinel to a planet I had wished to forget. I descended on the rock, led Rose to a post and I chained her there. I always kept a good, long, sturdy chain around my hips. It served to chain Rose, beat answers out of mechs, and seduce them out of femmes. Femmes are easier to pry answers from, and I sought one out immediately.

She worked at the bar, flipping bottles. I smirked at her and she grimaced at me. Then she spun me a cube of High Grade.

"Prowl, Prowl, Prowl," she cooed. She bore the brand of a breeder on her neck: _835 1_. She was the eight hundred and thirty fifth creation of the first brother of the Quintessons. The one I hate the most.

And I confess to pinning her on her own berth. Sometimes the chain works too well.

I knew that if I looked a little further down towards the floor behind the bar counter, I would see a beautiful femme sparkling playing with blocks. Her name is Nightprowler, and I felt a fierce feeling of pride every time I spoke her name. Nightprowler. She would follow my pede steps if only Rosethorn would allow her.

Ah, yes. Rosethorn. Roselight. See, when I was "with" Rosethorn, Roselight was merely an egg with my name on it. When Roselight emerged, and I saw the pink face, I knew her name had to be Rose-something. Rosethorn agreed, and we thought we would be forever together.

And then I met Jazz. The war was lost. I became a bounty hunter. I didn't love her anymore. I left her in the middle of the night, Nightprowler only a small, itty bitty thing inside her womb. I didn't know until recently I had sired a sparkling with a _femme_ of all Cybertronians.

"You look lovely, Thorn," I purred. I called her by her nickname, hoping to draw out some affection I didn't earn, didn't deserve. It didn't. She ignored me until I spoke again. "I'm looking for a Seeker Queen."

"Seeker Queen? She's dying." She flipped another bottle of High Grade and spun a cube all the way down the thirty-six foot counter to a mech waiting at the end. I was impressed when I saw it the first time, and now I know all her tricks. I was no longer impressed with card tricks. I wanted cold, hard facts and some really quick, really smart answers.

Now.

"I know that. I want to know the next in line. By the time I make it to Earth, will the Seeker Queen be alive? Or dead?"

"Dead. Six feet in the ground, flowers on her grave dust. That dead." Rosethorn eyed me for a long time. "The Quintessons need her?"

"They need heirs," I grumbled. I hated them, hated doing their work, but they were old. Fragile. I doubted they could get out of their thrones without their spark overworking and eventually exploding. It's a tragic death, one I had to watch several times. It isn't pretty. It makes a mess.

"Well, recently, the Seeker Queen had a femme, and right now," Rosethorn glances at an Earth watch on her wrist, which moves rapidly in this place, "she is a day old. By the time you make it to Earth, she will be of breeding age."

"Excellent. When should I leave?"

More calculations. "Six minutes ago. You're running out of time!"

I scowled and drank my High Grade before rushing out to Roselight, who was pacing. A Predacon mech was checking her out, sniffing and nuzzling her red-lined hindquarters. I promptly fired a warning shot, which made the beast cower. Roselight barely flinched. I pushed her towards Earth, never giving her rest until I knew she was close to Earth, about a few Earth years away. We landed on their moon, and I looked out at the other planets, gazed at the sun.

"Such a bright star," I said to Roselight, who laid down with a cloud of dust. She sneezed. I laughed. "Earth isn't this dusty."

She gave me a look of disbelief. She snorted, sneezed again. Lashed her tail. I was still amused. I sat against her side, allowed myself to show her the slightest signs of affection. I stroked her jaw, pulled her head around so I could kiss her optic closed. She breathed softly on my shoulder, licked the armor there. I patted her wounded aft, checked her valve for damage. She would be fine. I lowered her hindleg and laid down beside her.

Predacons were seen as guardians of sleep, and it is common for a mobile to be made of Predacons over a fussy sparkling. Briefly, Prowl wondered why anyone would think a smelly beast like Rose would be any kind of guardian when Roselight fanned out her wings, arched her neck, and covered me in warm darkness, her optics glued to Earth, her audios pricked behind her.

And she waited for the chance to protect me.

 **ooo**

We landed in the ocean. Rose did this on purpose. She preened the soot off her, licked her amror clean of salt, and flapped the rest onto me. I swatted her chest for it, but she only smiled and trotted onto the shore. I gazed around, closed my optics and inhaled deeply.

I could scent as good as an Amalgami, because once upon a very long time ago, an Amalgami and a Praxian fell in love, creating my line. I have been infused with the genes, but I cannot take on physical forms of my enemies, of my friends, of anything, save a car, a human, and my bipedal mode. So I reverted to human, Roselight took on the form of a horse, and we were on our way.

To anyone watching that morning, we looked like demons emerging from the ocean, set on finding royalty and sacraficing her to the cause, but I doubted that anyone would be awake at four forty-five in the morning on a Saturday, save the Royal Queen herself. I had to find her. As I climbed onto Roselight's red-coated back and settled on her spine (so strange, I thought), I breathed deeply again and picked up the scents I found before: Optimus, Bumblebee, Axiona, and Seeker. Tons and tons of Seeker-scent. I spurred Rose towards the cloud, and her red eyes went wild with the thought of a hunt.

I had to admit, I was feeling pretty excited myself.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't get paid enough for this. The Seeker castle was...mighty, to say the least. Elites on every side, every corner, every _mouse hole_. Even if I had received my ancestor's great gifts of shape-shifting, I would never have gotten in, never.

Roselight was chomping lazily on her bit, uninterested. She had already sized up the situation, and was giving me the heads-up that I should give up as well, but I was a stubborn mech, and so I fought for a way to get in.

The Elites found me. Every. Single. Time. How? They're Elites. They're not called Elites for being lazy. They were the best of the best of the best, and they wasted no time showing me that.

My pride was knocked down a few rungs after being degraded (repeatedly), and as I stood at Roselight's shoulder, I gazed up at the highest window with a balcony. The Queen was regarding me, her wings perked in curiosity. I tried one last time to get in, and the Elites found me again, dumped me unceremoniously in the moat. Any other team of guards would have laughed as I drug myself out of the muddy water before the water Predacons could snap at my heels, but the only one that was laughing was Roselight, who tossed her head and snorted, her blood-red mane fanning out prettily around her lovely head. I imagined snapping her neck for being rude, but then she trotted past me up to the Elites, and she did something remarkable.

It was common knowledge that Predacons have more than one mode, but to see one vulnerable means that it trusts you. She became human before my eyes, and I blinked stupidly as she saluted the guards, smiled sweetly back at me, and purred when they stepped by to let her in. I followed her.

"How did you do that?"

"I simply stated we had to see the Queen. There are more Elites inside, so try not to be such a threat."

Stupidly, I thought _amazing. It knows words._ I knew Roselight saw this thought in my expression because she turned back into a red horse and trotted towards the stairs guarded by more Elites, who scanned her, scanned me. With the removal of my weapons, my chain, and the knives and guns I carry out of sight, we were deemed defenseless. Vulnerable. I was beginning to hate that word.

And when the door opened to the Queen's _personal quarters_ , my mind was changed. If vulnerable got me into the room of the prettiest femme I ever saw, it wasn't so bad after all.

"Hello," she said. More Elites stood behind her, their weapons charging in their holsters. I could hear the buzz. How I was going to snatch the Queen away was a big question I had, but I trusted Roselight, who turned back into a human, and I trusted my charm.

"Oh, I, ah, was expecting someone else. See, I travelled a long way...A very, very long way. I was hoping the Queen would still be alive. I had something to ask of her, but...where is she?"

"My mother? She is dead." Her wings lowered ever so slightly, and the guards allowed their shoulders to drop minutely.

"Oh. Oh, I am so very sorry," I sighed. I rubbed my arm. "Well, this is awkward. I have news from the Quintessons, that they wanted to visit with her, but if she's not here..."

"Quintessons? What do they want?"

Quintessons and Seekers are closely linked. Without the Quintessons, there would be no Seekers, and without the Seekers, the Quintesson brothers wouldn't exist. This was going to be too easy.

Roselight spoke up. "They are dying, the brothers, and they require a meeting with their closest friends to decide which planet goes to which heir."

Seekers, while smart and witty, do not often catch on quickly, but there are some cases when I am proven wrong. This, as it turned out, would not be that case. I would be thwarted, by an old enemy.

Predacon fire interrupted whatever the Queen had been about to say, and before the Elites could react, the Queen was snatched up into black talons. There was a flapping of wings and the femme was gone. Roselight reverted back to her Predacon form, and I my bipedal, just as the rest of the indoor guards piled in and gazed up at the sky.

"The Predacon is heading to a marked ship!"

"Identify that mark," barked a captain.

"The Firebreathers, captain."

"Scrap."

The Firebreathers. A band of Predacons with a mech for a helm. The mech's name was nicknamed the Bondbreaker, because he targetted young mated femmes to kidnap for ransom only to kill them when he got his credits, jewels...

They had just recently been employed by the Quintessons to do "dirty work", and it only meant one thing if they were here.

I had been replaced, sentenced to death. Any moment now, I assumed my datapad would beep, and ah, there it is. The virtual letter of my unemployment notice.

I was no longer an ally. I was the enemy, and wanted.

I mounted Roselight, spurred her back into the stars and onto the moon, where I screamed my anger. What did they see that I had not covered up? Nightprowler? No, I decided, it had to be further back. Oh, wait.

I had been with Optimus, who was an ex bounty hunter, who was the enemy. I had been his friend. I was walking a thin line with the Quints, and they had decided to put me on a planet where being the friend of the most hated mechs in the universe had a death penalty, former or current. Optimus was currently sheltered in the sticks of a small town nobody remembers the name of (at this moment, even I fail to recall...), and I should have taken that cue and done the same, but now. I wanted brownie points. I wanted to belong.

I fit in like a chicken in a fox den. I had to be terminated, and terminated I would be. Such is the life I had chosen.

In a fit of rage, I swung the back of my servo across Roselight's cheek. She didn't even blink, wasn't even bothered. She only laid down and stared at Earth, her audios pricked in my direction. I growled and sighed, relaxing slowly. What had happened to me since I joined forces with the Quintessons?

Before, I was an easy-going mech, mated to Jazz, expectant sire of twins, by-the-book kind of officer among the warriors under Optimus...and then I was a slave, the former sire of twins that were promptly torn from Jazz's spark after the Quintessons won the war, and I became their personal hunter before they obviously found a much cheaper, better means of getting what they wanted.

But, oh, revenge...what I could do to them. They had not taken Roselight from me. I still had wings, a means of travel. I could easily seek revenge, destroy the Quintesson rule because they destroyed me with a single act.

I would need only three things: Optimus, Roselight, and Venganza. I smirked at moon dust and I dusted off my servos.  
"Oh, Roselight...it's time to go hunting."


	3. Chapter 3

I knew I had less of a chance of getting Optimus on my side if I didn't have the femme he really respected, and so I sniffed her out. I left Roselight outside, wishing I had managed to snatch my weapons and my chain back from the guards before everything went to the Pits.

For a long moment, I just stared at the large building I was to go inside of. It was a bar that served both humans and Cybertronians, and I was going to go in and try to get a femme to come with me. A femme I had long ago broken. Things weren't looking good for me.

I walked in, cut my way through the smoke and the crowd gathered inside. I set down at the bar, one of twenty, and I watched Venganza.

If anyone knew her, they knew Venganza wasn't her real name. She was born Jae, and only sometimes do people call her that. She was an Elite, formerly, before her sisters were killed and they had no use for her. She was a lead Seeker with no followers. Not many lead Seekers survive long in the Elites, in wars and battles and squirmishes, so they let her go. But Optimus and I have been needing her services, and so we gave her a nickname: Venganza.

After she was let go, she became like Rosethorn: a bartender. And a very good one.

All bartenders are taught tricks to earn tips, more customers. Popularity. Rosethorn could flip bottles in a pretty way, and Venganza could dance with them, throwing them up in the air, spinning around and letting her hair fan out (it was long, glittery black I would catch Optimus stroking sometimes), and her skirt would mimic her hair. To say she was beautiful was an understatement.

She set a cube of High Grade down in front of me so hard I heard the glass splinter and the pink fuel sloshed out onto the table. "You again." She had a pretty accent. "Prowl, do you ever learn?"

"Talk to me in your pretty language," I purred. I knew seven words, four colors, three numbers. I would not understand a thing she would say, but I was always eager to learn.

She narrowed her black eyes at me, frowned, and huffed. " _Yo no te quiero aquí._ "

I set down the cube. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you just insulted me."

She laughed a little, then mopped up the spill she had caused earlier, but I knew she wasn't forgiving me for existing. For ruining her. "What do you need?"

"You. I need you to come with me so we can find Optimus."

"For what?" She wasn't interested yet. I hadn't even tickled her interest.

"We're going to save a Queen."

Her mouth dropped open, and she snapped it shut quickly. "Save? We don't do much saving any more. Optimus will be-"

"Pleased to be doing what he does best?"

"Pissed. He will be so mad..." She started to mumble in her language. I didn't want to listen, so I didn't. I wouldn't have understood anyway. She said nothing about colors.

Then she looked up at me. "Fine. I'll help you. But only if Optimus will help too."

It was better than nothing. I took it and her servo. "Then let's go."

 **ooo**

Venganza had her own mount, a large, old Predacon that waited in his stallion form for her. He was a Clydsedale, black. All black. His name was Soot.

"Soot. Up." Venganza didn't even mess with the tack waiting on the ground. She hoisted herself onto his back even as he climbed to his feet. They eyed me with black eyes, and Soot snorted. Roselight trotted around the corner, alerted by Soot.

I mounted Roselight, followed Soot closely as the giant horse tore across the grass and onto the road, his head high and his mouth open. He was huffing. I thought he wouldn't be able to go any faster, him being so old, his remaining days numbered in triple digits while Roselight had thousands of digits, but when he put his head down, his mouth closed and he went faster, his hooves a blur. Roselight struggled to keep up.

Soot dropped from his trot, and he turned his head to an old, old farm house. Two horses nickered gently in a pasture, the fencing simply gone in some places, but they either didn't care or didn't notice. Roselight reared up in a greeting, and the grey stallion lifted his head and bared his teeth at her. Roselight's ears went back as her front hooves hit the ground.

I pushed by Soot and dismounted, walking to the farm house. I slowly knocked. Nothing.

"You think he's still here?" I turned back to Venganza, who leaned into Soot's shoulder. Her easy smile became tight and she nodded at the door.

Optimus stood in the doorway, aiming his gun at my head. "Prowl..."

"Hey, Prime. Mind if I-"

Before I could say anything, good ol' Prime dropped his gun (he never shot, not well) and he tackled me to the ground. We struggled, rolling around and growling at each other. Meanwhile, out of the corner of my eye, I saw his daughter smiling. She broke us up eventually.

"Axiona, stay out of this!" Optimus growled at her, tearing out of her grip. I dusted myself off.

"Please, Dad, come on..." She huffed. "You're such a drama mech. Mother would agree."

Aleta had died not too long ago. The pain of her is still fresh to Optimus, and he withers immediately, his head lowering and his eyes glazing over. He sighed and nodded. "What can I do for you, Prowl?"

"You can help me save a Queen Seeker."

Optimus barely flinched and he gave a slow nod. "Very well."

Axiona elbowed him. "I'll get Fleur ready."

"You are not coming."

"Don't be stupid." She walked off, and then returned with the two horses, who were eager to be handed off to Optimus.

The Prime brushed his dusty grey stallion off. "Come along, Bello...settle now." He fixes me with a look. "You owe me for this."

"I'm already giving you a chance to do what you love: doing good."

He frowned, but I didn't really expect him to smile. As I mounted Roselight, I wondered if this was truly too good to be true, wondered if this was _too_ easy.

It would be the last thing that I would ever consider "easy".


	4. Chapter 4

We waited on Earth's moon while the plan was being formed. I didn't know what I wanted to do, know that I had an army: Find the Queen? Save her? Find the Quintessons? Kill them? Optimus was pro-SavetheQueen, and I wanted to snap some fleshy necks.

Bello laid his helm in Optimus' metal lap, purring gently and huffing smoke. He wasn't out to kill Prime like Roselight was out to kill me. After a certain age, I supposed, Predacons lost the will to kill, lost the will to do what Nature croons for them to do. Roselight is nearing that age, says Optimus, but I don't believe him. I wrinkle my nose at him every time he says it.

"I think we should find the Queen," Venganza said. She was stroking Soot's large head. His single optic was as big as her helm. " _Y entonces_ , eh, 'snap some fleshy necks'." She nodded at me. I smirked.

But Optimus was the leader of this group, though I wanted to lead. The Matrix thrummed eagerly in his chest. It must hate the quiet life as much as I do. Optimus seemed pretty content to do nothing.

Axiona leaned into her blue-grey femme Predacon named Fleur. Fleur was young, not yet of breeding age, and had a temper with anyone that wasn't Axiona.

I watched them for a long time, and then I got up. "All in favor of Saving the Queen?"

Venganza raised her servo. " _Yo_."

Optimus's servo also shot up, as did Axiona. The Predacons watched, slightly interested.

"So it's just me that wants to kill some Quints?"

"I didn't say that, did I? _Podríamos hacer las dos cosas_."

"English."

She bared her denta. "We could do both things."

I smiled at her grimace. "Why didn't you just say that."

Optimus grunted. He always encouraged Venganza to speak her "native" language, and he knew a few basic sentences. I knew that I would be subjected to their learning.

"Let's mount up," I said, and I turned to Roselight, who shuffled her wings. She had a thing for Bello, and she moved as close to the mech as I allowed. I swatted her snout away from his and sat down on her shoulders harder than she would appreciate. She only blinked and shifted her weight to compensate.

While I led the group of Predacons, Venganza taught Optimus Spanish.

"How do you say 'car'?"

" _Coche,_ " she purred.

Axiona perked up. " _Mi novio comprará un coche deportista._ "

Optimus swatted her. "You don't have _un novio_."

"Someday I will," she said, smiling as she pressed her palm to Fleur's neck. The Predacon chirped agreement.

Optimus playfully rolled his optics, then spurred Bello to quicken his stride to settle on Roselight's left. "You are worried."

"I'm angry. I was fooled into being their servant." I snapped a whip down on Roselight out of anger, and she roared in pain. Energon floated off her hindquarters. She twitched when Optimus bandaged it.

"All is well," Optimus purred and he stroked Roselight's jaw. She snapped at his digits.

We continued on for months, moments in space, and I was picking up trails of the Firebreathers' ship, the _Dawnshredder_. It was "supposed" to be funny, but I only find it very annoying to say.

Optimus picked up on the trails too, and Bello snorted eagerly. Roselight kicked her hindlegs.

"We're here," Venganza said. I glanced back at her, frowning, but when I turned back around, I realized she was right.

 _Dawnshredder_ was slowly creeping along in front of us. It was obvious the captain was sleeping, and the crew was probably napping as well. _Dawnshredder_ wasn't sentient, and so she wouldn't know we were coming up on her.

But as soon as Roselight's claws brushed the armor of the ship, she roared in frustration. Her sensitive audios were picking things up, and when I tuned in, I heard sirens.

"Scrap!"

The ship turned its cannons to us and prepared to open fire.

Optimus gave an order and I obeyed out of habit, making Roselight follow Bello under the ship and latch onto the belly. Venganza did a pretty flip off of Soot, activating her magnetic boots just in time before she started floating out into space. She worked on breaking loose a panel.

I looked at Optimus, who looked at me, who quickly looked at Axiona, who was focused completely on what Venganza was doing.

"Once the panel is up, I should be able to either blow a hole through the floor and we can crawl in save the Preds or I can put them in the dark." The panel she was prying at snapped free and she threw it at Soot, who caught and held it gingerly in his jaws. Venganza then turned her attention to the array of wires and shrugged, shaking a cannon out of her wrist and blowing a hole into the wires. The ship went quiet. "Ta-da," she purred and she wriggled through the hole.

I followed her, and at my heels was Axiona, who I had to pull to her pedes. Optimus drug himself after her, and stood up in the dark, his optics blue orbs searching for our faces. Axiona took his servo and took mine. I snatched Venganza's before she could get away and we ran through the halls, searching for the Queen.

Her screams for help were fairly easy to track.

Venganza settled outside her cell, fumbled with the lock, but before she could get her knives to work, there was the sound of a gun revving up.

"Turn around," the captain ordered. There was the sound of rustling wings behind him, and I knew that this was the captain and his bodyguards, but I didn't turn around. Venganza didn't either. She cursed.

Optimus turned around only to drive his fist into the captain's jaw, knocking the mech over into the Predacons.

They rushed forward and all I saw was gleaming teeth and outstretched claws.


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't get paid enough for this!" I growled as I hung from my wrists. They were chained to the ceiling, and Venganza was next to me, whispering in Spanish and every so often tugging on her bounds. I glared at her every time I heard the chains rattle.

Optimus looked up. "You have said that." He was on my right, Axiona on the other wall. In the middle of the room, chained back-to-back, were our Predacons. Roselight was perfectly calm. I wanted to kick her.

"And said that and said that and said that," Axiona sighed. She was staring off into space, literally. The ceiling was glass.

Roselight shifted, sighing through her nose. She was still in her Predacon form, but she was sitting like a bot, her hindlegs stretched out before her, her tail beside her left leg. She snapped at Soot, who struggled, who then turned his helm to snap at her. I growled, and Soot settled down, growling lowly at his hind paws.

But Axiona was chirping gently, making Fleur act up, wiggling and moving. At first I didn't understand, and then I heard the rope snap. Fluer had spines along her back, and they were slowly cutting through the rope, exactly as they were supposed to. I wondered about the rope, but then I remembered how much Predacons were worth on the black market: Sixty-five hundred thousand credits for one pristine Predacon.

Chain scuffs didn't buff out.

With a snap, Fleur jumped up and ran at Axiona, licking and nuzzling her, then biting at the chains holding her. Optimus clicked his glossa and Bello stood up on his hind paws, trudging over and cutting him down. Soot nuzzled Venganza and gnawed at her bounds.

Roselight waddled over to me, sat down, and blinked slowly up at me. Then she got up on her hind legs and licked my face before chewing at the chains. I fell onto my pedes while the other Predacons lowered their riders. I swatted at Roselight, growling and muttering.

I looked at the door and Roselight followed my gaze, blowing it apart with her dragonfire. She charged down the halls, tearing the doors off hinges. She didn't care, and neither did I, until I saw the Queen. I swatted her helm and Roselight awkwardly turned around in the tight hall to snatch the Queen out of her stall and she laid the unconsious body on my lap. I rejoined the others, who were waiting.

"Let us get out of here," Optimus said as he climbed onto Bello's shoulders. Bello tipped his helm back and roared at the glass, which visibly vibrated. Seeing what the Predmech was doing, I strapped myself to Roselight's back, but I was nearly too slow.

 _Whoosh_ , I thought as space greedily sucked us and the rope bits out of the ship and into the great unknown inky blackness. Roselight fanned her wings gently while the rest tumbled almost out of control. Soot regurgitated his last meal while he flapped his wings frantically. I patted Roselight's shoulder awkwardly in thanks. She flinched.

Optimus huffed, a cloud coming out of his nostrils. We watched the ship recover, and we could only imagine the angry roars of Predacons. I smirked at Roselight's spiny neck.

"We should go," Axiona said. She spurred Fleur, who started dancing under her in her eagerness to leave.

The Queen barely stirred. I stroked her limp wings, frowned a little at how small she was, and then I looked up. "What are we doing?"

"We go to Earth. You are going to drop off the grid, spend some time with me and Axiona. Venganza will go back to her bar."

I looked at Roselight, preened her a little bit, wiped off the soot collecting on her, then nodded. It would be good to settle down, I thought...very good indeed.

 **ooo**

I laid back in my new bed. Roselight was sleeping in the barn, but I wanted to go check on her before I slept. The Queen was probably waking up now, hopefully with no memory of what had happened to her, in her own bed in her palace Optimus turned over to the Wreckers to fix. Ultra Magnus said the palace was in good hands, wiggling his human fingers at me. I cracked a smile then, and I did so again, this time at my ceiling. I heard Fleur nicker gently outside, and I sat up.

When I got to the barn, Roselight was pacing, her snout to the ground, her optics blurry. Her tail lifted and fell, and her hips would often lower, but then she would lift them and continue walking her circle. I feared the worst, and I ran to her. "Rose? Rose?" I grabbed her helm, looked in her eyes. I made myself not get too attached, but I couldn't help it.

I ran back to Optimus, shook him awake. I drug him to Roselight, who was laying on her side, panting and groaning while her hind legs pedalled in the dirt and straw. Optimus started smiling.

"She's birthing."

"What?"

Optimus walked over to her, stroked her side down to her hip. Roselight mewed. "Such a happy time after a long period of darkness," he crooned, and he squatted over her tail. "Hold her helm. Let her look into your optics."

I dumbly dropped to my knees and pulled her helm into my lap. She blinked lazily at me, but a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. I didn't know Preds could smile. I didn't know Roselight would give birth. I didn't know anything. What would the baby look like? For a dumb moment, I wondered if Preds had live births, and then I remembered the egg Roselight chewed herself out of. I laughed a little and rested my helm on hers. She didn't try to bite me, and then her teeth clamped down on my arm. I let her up, and she moved her helm over, purring gently.

In Optimus' Energon-streaked arms, there was a rather large egg, and he set it down beside her.

I was disappointed at the number. "Just one?"

"Trust me," Optimus said as he stood up, cracking his back. "You only want one." He smiled, clapped my shoulder. I shuddered and wiped at the blue on my skin. "It washes off."

"Gross."

Roselight sniffed the egg, looked at me, then snatched it up and flew to the loft. She buried it in the straw, but wouldn't let me see where.

"Do not worry. Bello's mom was the same way." Optimus led me out of the barn. "Jealous, angry all the time...it is just how they become. But do not try walking into the barn anymore."

Fleur trotted up in her horse mode, her eyes searching mine before she headbutted me on the shoulder. Optimus tickled under her jaw, earning a loud snapping of teeth before the mare charged away, leaping over Bello, startling the older stallion. He cast a glare to Optimus, who shrugged.

Optimus and I went to our beds, and I laid down slowly, thinking about the egg in the barn. And that was when the sky erupted with color.

The Quintessons had arrived, and I knew I was the top of the list of people to get rid of. I ran out to confront them after borrowing one of Optimus' guns.

The oldest approached me, and batted me aside with a tentacle. I watched the youngest charge a gun, and I knew that I was done. I had spent all my life running, but from what? The inevitable. I knew I would die tonight.

And then Roselight was between me and the Quintessons, and then the shot was fired. Roselight took it for me. I got to live. She had to die. Optimus and Axiona attacked, Bello and Fleur breaking free to run to the rescue that was too late in coming.

I tried to get Roselight to wake, tried to get her to answer me, but she was smiling and purring gently at me. She lifted her helm and licked my cheek, laid her helm down in my lap before drawing her last shuddering breath.

And then she was gone. The Quintessons were spooked away into their strange ship.

Optimus knelt by me and touched my arm. "We'll bury her."

"On the moon," I whispered. "She loved the moon."

He nodded, and gave me an hour to be with Roselight before Bello lifted her skinny body (she was so skinny...why didn't I see that? I should have fed her more). I watched as Bello and Optimus left with my mount, and I felt a gaping hole in my chest.

My rider-and-mount bond was...gone.


End file.
